Nice day today so I got to thinking what else can I do for my truck...

Here's a couple of cheap and easy mods you might like.

First, I used to be a big fan of magnetic oil drain plugs. Seems to make so much sense you wonder why the car manufacturers don't make it SOP (unless they actually want your car to wear out faster...hmmmm) but you can't get one for a SD.

Well, with the plastic drain plug and oil pan on the '11 Superdutys you can't just stick a magnet on to the pan near the drain plug...or can you?

I have a bunch of the super powerful neodymium magnets that I use for all kinds of things around here so I took one and added a little velco to it and some velcro near the plug and volia'. Anything ferrous floating around in the oil will magically be drawn to and stay right next to the plug. When you change the oil, pull off the magnet and all the junk should sail across the room with the old oil. May try this on my fuel filter too to prevent HPFP failure due to metal particles. This should stop them at the filter.

Clean real good with alcohol first:


Add velco:


Attach velcoed magnet:


Another cheap mod was to do something with that blank spot in the mirrors. I added a pair of those little angled mirrors from the auto parts store and now I have an extra view of my rear wheels and whether or not I am going to make it around some of these tight corners with curbs like at the bank drive through and the like. $5 well spent.

 

Love it! Great job!!

I never could figure out why they don't have magnets on the drain plug. I thought about coming up with some type of magnet strap to put on the oil and fuel filters and I think you just came up with the perfect idea!

 

Nice, PITS. I would be interested in trying the magnet next to the drain plug. Great idea with the velcro. It would be interesting to leave it on while draining and then take it off and clean out the space with a Q tip or something. Then you'd know if the magnet is actually capturing anything. Great use of the space on the mirror too.

 

Sounds like a new Epic video coming soon to a theater near you...

 

I'm in. Where do you get these good magnets anyway? I just ran down to 7-11 and they didn't have any...

 

I had the same question. These guys seem to have every shape you can think of. Have never bought from them before...........

K&J Magnetics - Product Categories

 

Question since the oil filter is metal would it no be better to place two (Filtermag RA 450s) of these on the filter to pull the ferrous floating material out of the oil. If you did this would you need a magnetic drain pug?

FilterMag Specs: Filter size range: 4.25" -5.50" (107.95-139.70mm) 800lbs Pull Force.

I would think that with the pulling force of two of these on the filter you could pull anything out of the oil.

 

I realy like this one and right smack in the middle of my skilllevel. By the way anyone know if the power folding mirrors can be pushed forward?

 

The magnet on the filter is a good idea I belevie. They actually make magnets designed to be used with oil filters that are extremely powerful - in fact you have to slide them off as they usually cannot be pulled off. I use one on my 67 Camaro engine.

Here is a link to one - we would have to detemine which will work with (fit) our filter: FilterMAG SS300 - FilterMAG SS Autos and Light Truck Series Magnets - Overview - SummitRacing.com

 

Question: I understand how the magnet can catch ferrous metal, but doesn't the regural oil filter do this too, in addition to catching an non-ferrous particles? I guess I don't understand how the magnet adds value if the oil filter is doing it's job properly.

 

Micheal53, I run the RA 365 on my 07 vette engine. The SS 300 magnet has 90 lbs of pull. Would it be better to run two on the filter? I see the RAs have a much strong pulling force power over the SS models.


Ford Filter Dimensions:

Height: 6.932
Outer Diameter 3.690


RA-300 has 300 pounds of pull force and two would fit it appears with some room left over (.50)

I guess how much pull force is needed?


P.I.T.S I like your mods.


Would it make more sense to have both a Filter Magnet and a Pan Magnet as P.I.T.S. has done?

Is it possible to tap out the end where the 3/8s ratchet goes to remove the drain plug and place a magnet inside of the plug, epoxy the magnet in place?

 

I just learned something interesting. Neodymium magnets are some of the strongest rare earth magnets in the world and begin to lose strength when subjected to temperatures over 176 degrees. Since the oil in our engines can get up to 240 degrees in extreme situations, a standard magnet should not be used. You have to use a specially prepared magnet that is designed for higher temps. The link to K&J Magnetics above has a ton of great information. They have a product for high temp applications:

K&J Magnetics - Products

I expect that the magnet attached to the oil pan via velcro will be fine and will never reach 176 degrees. A magnet attached to the oil filter however, will match pretty closely the actual oil temp, I think...

I just filled my shopping cart with $200 in magnets! I'm like a kid in the candy store with this kind of stuff and I just can't help myself. Looking forward to spending some quality time with my 9 year old in the sand box...

 

Sir, this was very good information. You sir bought a lot of magnets.


After looking at the K&J Site and the FilterMag Site, I found that Filter Mag does use the Neodymium Magnets.

Well, this is something that you don’t get everyday. I spoke with Randy Yount the president of FilterMag. The gentleman explained that they use the N42SH High Temp Rated Magnets. He stated that you could use two RA365s and do a complete wrap around the filter, which would increase the filtering process. I was told place the magnets down ¾ of an inch from the matting service or base.

This could a winner here.

 

I was thinking the fuel filter, not the oil filter. Don't have to worry about temperatures there and may help with the HPFP issues if indeed it is metal in the fuel causing problems.

 

Primary or Secondary filters?